Editor’s Note: This is a two-part article. Watch for part 2, coming soon on charismamag.com.

In the early part of 2020, I had a vision of a refreshing rain covering the earth. I saw greenery sprout to life as this divine shower nourished the ground. Knowing the trouble our world had been facing, I felt an overwhelming sense of excitement. I was sitting at my piano, so I began singing, “Let it rain, let it rain, open the windows of heaven.”

To my surprise, the Lord stopped me. He continued with another vision. A three-tiered fountain made of pearl with gold trim was before me. I sensed this fountain was for royalty. Its waters were bursting through the atmosphere beyond my view. After a moment, the water returned to the earth as a gentle rain. Zooming out, I saw there were millions of fountains causing the worldwide rain I had seen in the first vision. Each fountain was inside a believer, and the living waters within them were quenching the dry earth.

God corrected me. I didn’t need to ask for the windows of heaven to open because He had a better plan. He said, “Rain from heaven was My visitation, but this rain is My habitation.” I trust the Father wants to bless our land, but He prefers to work through His children. In the past there were rainy seasons of His glory, which we’ve considered powerful moves of God. But this new move He is bringing will be different from the rest. It will be a habitation as His people stay hooked up to His deep reserves. We won’t need the windows of heaven to open, because the kingdom of heaven will rule and reign through us.

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38, KJV).

Know How to Flow

If God’s plan is to heal the world through the fountain within us, it’s important we know how to flow. An occasional squirt won’t cut it. To do this, we need to learn how to tap into the river of God and activate it in our own lives. That’s easier said than done. I don’t expect a vague statement like, “Just let the river of God flow,” will help equip many believers. Instead, let’s examine what the Word says about how to flow and break it down into practical applications.

In the book of John, we learn the river flows from our bellies. Other translations use the word “heart” in place of “belly,” because that’s where John believed the heart was. In the New Testament, the Greek word for heart is kardia. It refers figuratively to the heart, pointing to our inner self, will, and/or center. When the Bible says the Holy Spirit is in our hearts, it doesn’t mean our blood-pumping organ, but rather our center.

The other word used in the New Testament for heart is splagchnon, which means the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, bowels, spleen, colon and so on) and the gut-level emotions. It was common knowledge among the ancients that our seat of emotions is in our gut. When they talked about the spiritual heart of a person, they concluded it was within the center part of the human body.

It’s easy to see why they thought this. What happens to us physically when we experience any intense emotions? As we cry wholeheartedly, our stomachs shake. The same takes place with uncontrollable belly laughter. But joy and sorrow aren’t the only emotions which seem to affect our stomachs. At some point, we’ve all had nerves cause our tummies to do somersaults before public speaking or felt butterflies in our gut when we fall in love. It’s clear why the people during Jesus’ time believed our hearts were in our midsection.

The Heart Is Best

Why would God choose our hearts over our minds as the place to release His river? The heart is so emotional and unsteady that I wouldn’t have selected it for the river of life. The refreshing rain which God wants to use to bring life to the world seems pretty important. He must have a good reason to hinge the great harvest upon the hearts of imperfect believers.

“My beloved reached into me to unlock my heart. The core of my very being trembled at his touch. How my soul melted when he spoke to me!” (Song of Songs 5:4, TPT).

Our hearts are the doorway to our souls. When Jesus knocked on our heart’s door (Rev 3:20), it was by believing with our hearts (Rom. 10:9) we let Him into our hearts (Eph 3:17). That’s why God warns us to guard our hearts (Prov. 4:23). We can become defiled with the things we let in our hearts. When we love someone, we will sometimes say we’ve let them into our heart. The opposite is true with unforgiveness, as we build walls to barricade our hearts against the offender. The problem is when we have hardened hearts, because we are neither letting anything in or out. And God’s river can only flow through a soft, open heart.

“And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Rom. 5:5).

After we ask for the Holy Spirit, He comes and dwells in our hearts. From there He will fill us with the fruits of the Spirit and direct us. The Holy Spirit will write the Word upon our hearts and train us to go with His flow despite any fluctuating emotions. When a negative emotion leads us astray, the Holy Spirit is there to realign it with God’s love.

I’ll never forget the night God taught me how to tap into His river. I was at a Christian concert, worshipping with all my strength. I often worshipped with everything I had (similar to a CrossFit competitor). With eyes closed and arms stretched, I nearly shouted the songs of praise as I determined to hold nothing back.

That’s when God told me to calm down. I was trying too hard. He urged me to be still, and as I did, something amazing happened. Instantly, the Lord poured the warmth of His love into my core. He overwhelmed me with how much He loved me. Who knew? Then He told me, “My love is My presence.” That’s when I understood God is love, and by focusing on that love, I will enter His presence.

God is love, according to 1 John 4:8. Love is an emotion. And where do we hold our emotions? That’s right, our hearts. If we want to tap into the river of God, we must allow His love to flow into the doors of our hearts. We can’t receive the river of God by thinking or striving; it must be felt. With our hearts, we believe and receive this holy flow. {eoa}

Shanna Barberio is a worship leader at Cornerstone Church in Amite, Louisiana. For 25 years she has served in worship as a vocalist and pianist. She carries a passion for the presence of God and loves to incorporate intercession and spiritual warfare in her worship. Shanna is also a recording artist, and has written numerous worship songs inspired by the Holy Spirit. Check out her new book, Heaven’s Frequency: Tuning in to the Heartbeat of God at this link.

America has had some difficult periods in its history, and I lived through one of the worst. I came of age during the radical anti-Vietnam War era in the late ’60s. I remember the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention when radicals tried to take over the party. We saw the same sort of street violence over the Vietnam War that we see today against President Trump in what is almost a repeat of that era.

As a student journalist I covered the riots of radicals at the University of Florida. I reported on the protests after the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University in May 1970 for the student newspaper. The following year I called in a story to the Associated Press from a pay phone inside the UF administration building after it had been seized by students. I remember the rhetoric and the inflamed passions of the radicals.

The radical societal changes I saw surfacing when I was a student came as a shock for most traditional Americans; they refused to believe what was happening until it was almost too late.

America has a long history of lively and often extreme political discord going back to the time of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, whose acrimonious political fight must have seemed extreme after our first president, George Washington, was elected without opposition. But the acrimony then was nothing like what we have seen the last 60 years.

With the Left becoming more and more extreme, it was as if the people said, “Enough is enough.” When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the American people sent a message to Washington that they wanted change. It was a message the political and media elites missed, so they were shocked by Trump’s decisive win in the electoral college. Even though Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, our Constitution set up a system in the electoral college that protects the small states from being overpowered by the more populous states. Trump won because he took three states the Democrats thought were in their pocket: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. But he only won by roughly 80,000 votes spread over all three states—less than 1% in each state. “This was not a blowout,” said Ralph Reed, a respected conservative political strategist.

Trump’s campaign in 2020 is entirely different because while he has been fighting since 2016 to make life better for all Americans, the Left has grown more extreme in its radicalism. It’s become more dangerous than it’s ever been in the history of our country. Meanwhile Trump has become the unlikely hero of most conservatives, including evangelicals. They see his courage and his stand for the truth. They see his unprecedented presidential support of religious liberty, life of the unborn and Israel.

While the country has lurched left over the past few decades, Trump has at least slowed the momentum. Christians have sensed this reprieve, and it has emboldened them to take a stand like they hadn’t recently. Conservative news sites—and even Christian ones—are more prominent. Some Christian movies, such as Unplanned and Breakthrough, have been big hits, whereas before, few Christian-friendly movies even got a slot in a theater. Leaders who may have been intimidated into silence are again taking courage from how Trump speaks the truth and survives the onslaught from the politically correct crowd.

Let’s face it, the same people who oppose Trump almost uniformly oppose Bible-believing Christians. If Trump loses, not only do we lose the benefits we have gained from some of his executive orders, but we lose a champion and a real American leader.

Listen to this episode of God, Trump and the 2020 Election where I discuss how Christians have been emboldened to stand against an agenda that opposes believing in the Bible because of how Trump stands for truth against the radical Left. As always, like and share this article and podcast with friends, family and anyone who needs to realize the truth about the upcoming presidential election. {eoa}

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Kroger Co. for allegedly firing two employees for refusing to wear aprons with a multicolored heart-shaped logo.

The EEOC stated in its filing that the company’s Conway, Arkansas, store “violated federal law when it fired two employees who asked for a religious accommodation to avoid wearing an emblem they believed contradicted their religious beliefs.” The suit is based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discriminatory employment practices on the basis of religion.

Brenda Lawson and Trudy Rickerd are Christians. They believed the emblem endorsed LGBTQ values and that wearing it would violate their religious beliefs. One of the women offered to wear the apron with the emblem covered, and the other offered to wear a different apron without the emblem, but the company made no attempt to accommodate their requests, according to the EEOC. When the women still refused to wear the apron, Kroger disciplined them, which led to their dismissal, according to arkansasonline.com.

Kroger has launched a 2020 Pride campaign company-wide, which includes its 3514 grocery stores across 42 states. The chain is the second-largest retailer after Walmart.

“At The Kroger Co., we embrace diversity and inclusion as core values, and we ingrain these in everything we do,” according to the company website. The site also notes that Kroger recently received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index in recognition of its commitment to LGBTQ-plus inclusion and equality. Kroger also says:

“We’re one of the few retailers willing to openly advocate for and make real change toward LGBTQ-plus diversity and inclusion, and we’re proud to offer:

—Same-sex partner benefits and transgender-inclusive healthcare.

—An Associate Resource Group that provides an uplifting community for LGBTQ-plus associates and allies.

—Strong alliances with LGBTQ-plus suppliers through our partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Central Division, and seeks monetary relief in the form of back pay and compensatory damages, as well as an injunction against future discrimination. {eoa}

Amid America’s chaos, California worship leader Sean Feucht is hosting outdoor worship services—all over the country. A video posted on Instagram from Friday, Sept. 11, in Fort Collins, Colorado, shows people singing, laughing, crying, dancing and praying. People are being baptized in horse troughs, and healings have been reported.

What began as a protest against the state of California’s July 29 ban on worshipping in church has taken on a greater identity—drawing people into the open to accept, celebrate and experience the power of God. The names of the cities and participants change daily, but the outcome is consistent—and trending.

Comments on Feucht’s Instagram reflected people’s enthusiasm for the worship events:

—”My 7 yr old grandson was powerfully touched and baptized,” said @norahsakcips.

—”The video is SO powerful, feeling shock waves of God’s presence the whole time,” said @juliadedmon.

And then there was this, also posted on Feucht’s Instagram: “Better be praying to god when you’re sick from covid,” said @n.evo.

The self-funded tour is now in Wisconsin, with three stops through Wednesday, Sept. 16. Then Feucht, his family and band will move onto Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Tampa and Orlando, Florida. (For the full schedule, go to seanfeucht.com/events).

There’s no end in sight.

“The fervor to worship God free from government edict and societal persecution drove America’s earliest settlers across oceans and wild frontiers to this beautiful land to create a new nation build on a simple premise that all men are created equal and cannot be denied their inalienable right to life and liberty,” Feucht said.

“It’s time for the church to rise up with one voice and tell our government leaders and the rulers of big tech that we refuse to be silenced,” he added.

From beaches to mountains and under bridges, the group continues to lead people into worship—whether they’re longtime Christians or people just coming to see what’s happening in a world where concerts and festivals have been cancelled throughout 2020.

From the stage, Feucht speaks of spiritual breakthroughs over each cities and the power of worshipping amid persecution, something Let Us Worship has seen plenty of as a result of not enforcing mask-wearing and social distancing.

“I believe that there’s a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and that there’s a prophetic calling over the Rocky Mountain region to release a revelation of worship that nowhere else in America can,” Feucht said at the Colorado event. “And I believe tonight that there’s a breaking through the ceiling of heaviness and oppression.

“Sometimes you’ve got to sing it before you see it.” {eoa}

Dr. Charles Stanley announced his decision to step down as senior pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta on Sunday, Sept. 13, during a livestream service. With a succession plan in place, the 87-year-old passed leadership on to Dr. Anthony George, who has assisted Stanley for the past eight years.

“We are forever indebted to this man of God—not only our faithful pastor, but also a pastor to millions around the world,” the church relayed on its Facebook page.

Followers continue to post their well wishes to the page, thanking Stanley for the impact his ministry made on their lives.

“I never heard the Gospel until I heard you on the radio, even though I grew up in church,” posted Marlene Smith, noting that she appreciates how Stanley “made it simple” and allowed her to be released from working hard to be “good.”

Stanley served at First Baptist Atlanta for 51 years. In 1992, he founded In Touch Ministries, which publishes In Touch Magazine and a variety of Bible study and devotional materials. While stepping back from church leadership, he will continue to be active with In Touch Ministries.

George thanked Stanley for “being strong and of good courage through every battle that you’ve had to fight, through every trial you’ve had to overcome,” according to Baptist Press. “You have stood tall and confident through all these years while at the same time remaining dependent and prayerful before Almighty God,” he said.

During his pastorate, Stanley spoke freely of the Holy Spirit’s “unlimited power, guidance and wisdom.” In March of this year, he referred to the Holy Spirit in an article titled “The Holy Spirit: An Absolute” as critical in Christians maintaining passion and growth as a part of the abundant life Jesus promised.

New Leadership

George has served the Atlanta congregation as senior associate pastor since 2012. He was named to succeed Stanley in 2017. Prior to this, he served as senior pastor for 15 years at Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, Florida. Having preached often on Sundays and at Wednesday services, George is well known by the congregation. {eoa}

One California church is rejoicing over the record number of baptisms that took place on Sept. 12.

Calvary Chapel Church in Chino Hills held the outdoor baptism at Corona Del Mar State Beach in Newport Beach where nearly 1,000 people made a public declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Church Director Gina Gleason told CBN News that “California may be experiencing a spiritual revival.” She explained that the typical number of candidates for baptism is 300 but Saturday saw over three times that.

“It’s remarkable and a significant number,” she added.

The area where everyone assembled, also known as Pirate’s Cove, reflected a scene of jubilation as adults, children and families encountered the love and goodness of God.

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at CBN News.

Todd Wagner is temporarily stepping down from his role as senior pastor of the Dallas, Texas, church he founded more than 20 years ago.

The reason for his sabbatical is the sin of pride.

“For the first time in 20 years,” he said from the pulpit Sunday, “I’m stepping back from what I usually do so I can do the hard work of hard work. So don’t be looking for some scandal. Don’t even think this is scandalous.”

“What is scandalous,” the preacher continued, “is when a Christian plays with, overlooks or welcomes sin, respectable or not.”

Wagner went on to thank the close friends who have held him accountable in recent months.

“I would call what I’ve heard my friends describing and telling me pride,” he said. “That’s the sin. And it’s really interesting, because, you know, I don’t think of myself—or I fool myself into thinking I’m not a prideful person, because I never look in the mirror and clap.”

The pastor noted he has been discussing the issue with church elders since June. The group reached a decision regarding Wagner’s temporary leave Sept. 6.

He must increase I must decrease. John 3:30 #simpleasthat

— Todd Wagner (@wordsfromwags) September 6, 2020

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at Faithwire.

There are also those who say it’s OK to drink as long as you don’t get drunk, citing this verse: “Do not be drunk with wine, for that is reckless living. But be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

Yet I have seen and experienced both in thought and action.

When I first surrendered to the call into full-time ministry serving God, I had been delivered from drugs, alcohol and sexual perversion more than 18 years earlier.

When I say “delivered,” I mean delivered. There was no desire or taste for any of it for years later. The only thing I had a taste for was Jesus.

Then one disappointment after another set in. One rejection after another came through. Feelings of loneliness made a home with me, and I allowed them to do so. During the first few years of ministry, I was on fire. I was ordained, had my first and only child and started a small ministry. With all of this going on, I was under attack with my marriage. My then-husband and I were already having trouble, but I believed God for our marriage to heal. I prayed, fasted and believed God for three years and no change; things got worse. After Holy Spirit led me to catch my husband cheating, I heard the Lord say, “End it now.”

I was devastated. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be a single mother running a church. This was not my dream or my plan.

But I obeyed God. My life went from being married and covered to not married and covered anymore. Suddenly, I was single and overseeing a church. This is when it all began. The devil wanted to have his way with me. I had not yet been healed from mother issues, and now, I was divorced. I still had my son and the responsibilities of the church. I wanted to talk to the leaders from my church to tell them how I was hurting, but they depended on me to lead them to Jesus.

I plowed through. I kept preaching. I kept praising, I kept praying, seeking and knocking for healing. I kept praising Him. I knew Father would heal me and deliver me again someday. I never gave up no matter how my heart was broken, no matter how much my soul was in pain and no matter how alone I felt. I kept pressing.

This would go on for years. Two churches. Two books. A growing internet radio show and podcast until I finally got my deliverance. Hallelujah! But what a road from the beginning to now. I had given up when I took that first drink of wine. I got tired and didn’t know it. Too many disappointments. Too much discouragement and too much hurt. I really didn’t realize how much it weighed on me because I had become immune to it all. So when I took my first glass of wine on a New Year’s Eve some years back, I used the Scriptures I mentioned to justify my choice.

I started having a glass of wine once a week at a restaurant. Social drinking wine. That’s OK, right? I’m not drunk. One glass of this “Jesus juice” isn’t going to hurt, right? Then it became OK to drink with other Christians and so on and so on. I have been drunk, and so were my Christian friends. We drank together. Leaders, laymen, whatever and whomever, serving the Lord.

Some would say they don’t have a problem with alcohol. But I would say if anything holds you back from the fullness of God, it’s a problem. It became a problem for me. I would fast from wine and declare, “It will have no control over me.” Then I started liking tequila, not just liking tequila but loving tequila. The drinks were just tasting so good. The pressures of life were starting to kick in even more and before you knew it, I thought about a glass of wine or a margarita before turning to God up to four or five days a week.

The morning after, I would pray an extremely self-condemning prayer to our Father, who knows all and loves us all so much. The devil was sinking his hooks even further into my soul. After fasting often and trying to show some sort of discipline didn’t work, I totally surrendered to God. I chose to sacrifice my drinking.

That’s when Holy Ghost came in, and Jesus delivered me again. People don’t realize how much drinking is really going on in the church. With depression attacking God’s people, it is really hard to say who can handle drinking and who can’t.

It reminds me of when I first tried crack in the world. The woman who introduced it to me looked and acted fine. She didn’t look like an addict because she wasn’t. When she introduced me to it, she had no idea how this piece of rock would become the escape for someone like me, not yet healed from my mother, rejection and abandonment issues.

It’s the same with leaders and church folks drinking wine and offering it to people who may be coming out of some sort of addiction or emotional hurt and pain. God will look at this as being on our hands: “But whoever misleads one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung about his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).

No one introduced me to wine on that New Year’s Eve, but I have drunk wine and tequila with other Christians, old and new. The thought of how this can hinder the growth of a fired-up-for-Jesus Christian hurts my heart and soul so much. I am delighted God forgave and has set me free from the cause and the effect. I wanted to escape. I wanted to celebrate and pretend nothing was wrong. But no drink was strong enough. God stopped the enemy, and He gave me strength and power to war against him. Now the devil is defeated in that area of my life. I have been reinstated, and I am ready.

I can identify with Peter because I denied Jesus’ power. I denied the fact that I was on a winning team. I wanted my countenance back. I wanted the light of Jesus shining through me again.

I was better off in the state I was in than where I ended up. The enemy wants to kill us. When we are weary, that’s when He comes in.

“Ahithophel also said to Absalom, ‘Let me choose twelve thousand men so that I may arise and pursue David tonight. I will overtake him while he is weary and weak and strike him with terror; all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike only the king'” (2 Sam. 17:1-2).

“The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

We must hold on to the fact that Jesus came so we might have life. He didn’t die on that cross for nothing. He wasn’t raised from the dead for nothing. We have been redeemed and resurrected because of His love for us.

I know some of you are tired. Some of you have turned to food, sex, alcohol and even anorexia. Please hear me: God can fix it! He knows all. Let Him pick you up, son. Let Him clean you off, daughter. You have work to do. You win!

Use the experiences of your past to set the captives free. You are not alone. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel. This is gospel: Moses, Elijah, David, Jacob, Peter, Paul, just to name a few. God forgave, healed and delivered them all.

Get back up, and let’s do this! You got this! Because the King of kings has you! You have seen God move for you many times. Don’t give up! You have seen Him provide for you. Don’t give in! You have seen Him do miracles. Don’t stop now. Don’t stop believing. Don’t stop seeking. Don’t stop praying.

If I had stopped, I probably would have been back on crack. If I had stopped, I would probably be dead right now. God is faithful. Don’t allow the cause to give power to the action that destroys your destiny. This is your opportunity right now. Take it. Give it back to our Father!

We all fall short of His glory. He is waiting right now for you to trust Him. Trust Him with everything. Run to Him! He is still in control.

To listen to Dr. Gina’s entire teaching on this topic, listen to this episode of The Keys Against the Enemy here. {eoa}

Gina R. Prince is an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a podcast show called The Keys Against the Enemy on cpnshows.com. Connect with Gina on Instagram and Twitter @ginarprince as well as Facebook at “The Keys Against the Enemy.” Visit her website at drginaprince.com.

The Christian community refused to let city officials in Seattle, Washington, shut down a Labor Day worship event organized by “Hold the Line” founder Sean Feucht.

In a video posted on Twitter, Feucht said, “The city decided to barricade the entire park for our peaceful worship and prayer gathering.”

We’re calling tonight a “Worship Protest” for legal reasons.

See ya in the streets next to GasWorks Park!

Live on Facebook at 6pm!

Already so many people here next to this bulldozer. Tonight could get a little wild #LetUsWorship pic.twitter.com/VvqmAh3VyS

— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) September 7, 2020

So the event became a “worship protest” and was moved into the street near Gas Works Park.

Seattle Parks and Recreation closed the area on Sept. 4, citing that the decision was “due to anticipated crowding that could impact the public health of residents.”

Feucht told CBN News that the worship protest was still powerful and “the Spirit of God moved.”

“The Lord called me to declare that this is a new Jesus People movement,” he added, saying that the restrictions imposed by politicians “are only making the church stronger.”

View this post on Instagram

REALLY REALLY MUST READ!!!! 4 WILD THINGS that happened in Seattle (SWIPE): 1. A local pastor prophesied an earthquake would happen during worship and ONE ACTUALLY DID (swipe). 2. Freaky agitators showed up in hazmat suits with bowls of blood to pour on me (thank you security & Seattle Police for stopping them). 3. Law enforcement surrounded us and had a powerful moment of prayer and reconciliation. 4. I led worship in front of a bulldozer (unrealized life goal). Don’t miss these nights people! You never know what could happen #LetUsWorship

A post shared by S E A N F E U C H T (@seanfeucht) on Sep 8, 2020 at 12:25pm PDT

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at CBN News. {eoa}

Christian singer and American Idol alum Colton Dixon and his wife, Annie, are delighted over the fact that their identical twin girls, Ava Dior (“Dior”) and Athens Elizabeth, arrived on Aug. 18. “We are over the moon to experience life with these twin girls,” the couple told People magazine.

The Dixons’ happy ending, however, did not come without its scary moments. After a 30-hour labor followed by an emergency C-section, Dior was born with no pulse. Dixon told People, “In that moment, we had a choice: faith or fear,” he said. “We watched and prayed as the doctors and nurses resuscitated our daughter back to life.”

“After several days in the NICU, Dior was able to join us at home, happy and healthy. That was a great day,” he added. “Life doesn’t always happen the way we want it to, but we believe that life is more about the way we respond to things than what happens to us. We thank God and our amazing doctors and nurses for our two little miracles.”

Dixon also shared the family’s miracle on Twitter, explaining, “We originally wanted to keep this story in the dark, but realized that this is a story of hope that needs to be heard. Just because a situation looks dark or grim doesn’t mean that you agree with it or give it control over the outcome.” He added later in the thread, “Sometimes we have to fight. Our word[s] are a weapon. Our praise is a weapon. God declared us victorious as His sons and daughter, but according to His word, we have to agree with Him. … Also, are they not the CUTEST EVER.”

We originally wanted to keep this story in the dark, but realized that this is a story of hope that needs to be heard. Just because a situation looks dark or grim doesn’t mean that you agree with it or give it control over the outcome.

Read: https://t.co/BarrFqzHoj pic.twitter.com/lGX2R4j0Ri

— Colton Dixon (@coltondixon) September 3, 2020

Sharing a photo of the newborns’ tiny toes, Dixon and his wife told People, “They truly are our two little miracles.” {eoa}